Disease Traced to Extreme Weather

Study of cholera rates in Bangladesh could link global warming to infectious outbreaks.
By Charles Piller
Times Staff Writer

August 4, 2005

An analysis of four decades of disease records from Bangladesh shows that periods of extreme rainfall, drought or high temperatures can sharply increase cholera rates, a pattern that some researchers believe bolsters claims that global warming will increase disease outbreaks.

The effect of weather on disease can be dramatic. In one period of turbulent weather from 1992 to 1994, the study found a six- to eight-fold increase in the number of cholera cases.

The study, published today in the journal Nature, found lesser increases during other periods of severe weather.

The researchers found that both floods and droughts promote cholera infections.